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Looking good! The Coopers look great, by the way.
Andy
Andy
Kevin's 01 XJ
- Thread starter MudderNutter
- Start date
Good call on the drip rail mounted rack, the factory rails tend to pop off when they have the weight of a tire on the rack. Funny but not if it's yours LOL. I am doing the same cooling system overhaul for the same reason, did you replace the thermostat? If so did you go back with a 195 or drop down? One thing I have learned being on my 4th XJ is that if that dinky fan shroud has the bottom broken out of it you will have temp problems, as a noet rockauto has it for 11.99. Cheep insurance. The front fender cut looks good, if you decide to cut the rear you may want to look up some you tube vids on using rear TJ flares on all 4 corners of the XJ. If you take your time with them they look good. Good looking start you have going bud.:victory:
screwball48
Explorer
Have you noticed a drop in temps with the louvers?
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Metal Man. I would recommend oe temp 195* thermostat. 4.0 run best around 200-210* (what theyre designed for). louvers do help keep a consistent under hood temp. my 89 hardly ever gets over 210* even while idling on hot day in wheeling scenarios. I do have a efan with a override switch. ZJ mech fan clutch is a great upgrade too
MudderNutter
Adventurer
Thanks Bushwacker! They are my favorite tire to date... but my list only consists of BFG AT's, and TSL's
MudderNutter
Adventurer
I lucked out with the racks! My dad had an 87 XJ when I was a kid, and I just stumbled upon the Yakima setup in his storage:wings:
Yeah I replaced the thermostat with a 195. I did a bit of research on the subject, and going to a lower temp thermostat seems to have no positive effect. As mtbxj97 said you want your motor to be operating at 200-210, so opening up the t stat at 180 would just start the cooling process prematurely.
It's funny you bring up the fan shroud. This go around I actually installed a ZJ fan clutch, but wasn't happy with the clearance between it and the radiator. I ended up switching back to a new XJ fan clutch, but cracked my fan shroud in the process.... Zip ties for the win! (but i'll probably order a new one from rockauto as you suggested)
I thought about doing the TJ flares, but just decided it wasn't for me. I don't have anything against em, but i'm kind of partial to a nice fender trim. Mainly because it's less to worry about, and I don't need fenders in my state.
Thank you for the input!
MudderNutter
Adventurer
I haven't had them on long enough to get a good feeling for the difference that they make. I should be doing a good bit of beach driving this weekend, so i'll get to test them out at low speeds under some strain. I'll keep ya updated!
I can say that my temp has not even touched 210 since the vents/rad/fan clutch/water pump/ thermostat... but i'm sure all of these have had a bit of impact individually. I never had overheating problems previously, but sometimes when the A/C was on I would get a hair over the 210 mark. Now it won't even touch 210 with the A/C on blast.
The main goal for me with the hood louvers was to increase air flow at slow trail speeds, and to help get rid of some mild heat soak that I get every once in awhile. I know the permanent fix is to wire in a delay for the e fan, but I figured I would try the vents first. I figured this way I would get more than just assistance with heat soak.
MudderNutter
Adventurer
I did a google image search on the louvers, and apparently saw a picture of your XJ. Thanks for the inspiration! Love your Jeep.
I have gone down to 160*s on all my XJs (I've had 4) just to give a bigger window between a cooling failure and damaging temps especially on my 99 and 01 models with the weak head casting. It fools the computer into running in warm-up mode longer witch allows for more fuel. The fan still doesn't kick in till 220*. Haven't seen any negative side effects. If you don't mind me asking what did the frame stiffeners run you and do you have a link?
MudderNutter
Adventurer
Can't beat that price!
Here is a link to the stiffeners: http://hdoffroadengineering.myshopify.com/products/xj-frame-stiffener-set
If you have any questions about them just shoot me a PM, and I can talk your ear off. I highly recommend copperweld for the inside of the stiffeners. I can't express enough how much they improved the ride.
MudderNutter
Adventurer
This weekend I got around to building a sleeping platform since i'm going on a decent sized trip in a couple weeks. I needed the platform to be simple, and functional. The platform was built around my needs of storing 3 Plano containers in the rear, and housing my cooler/other gear up front. I really wanted to be able to access the gear that is up front easily, so I made the front of the platform into a large hinge.
This is what I ended up with:
Side shot from the passenger rear door. This shows the platform with the sleeping extension in place:
Sleeping extension removed:
Travel mode:
The hinge I made is just a large stainless steel bolt on either side of the platform. It works perfectly! Here it is in action being held up by the parachord tie offs:
A shot from the rear with the front of the platform raised:
My ladies testing it out :smiley_drive:
I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out! It's super simple, but does the job. I am working on a way to fix it to the floor. I haven't tackled that part just yet.
This is what I ended up with:
Side shot from the passenger rear door. This shows the platform with the sleeping extension in place:
Sleeping extension removed:
Travel mode:
The hinge I made is just a large stainless steel bolt on either side of the platform. It works perfectly! Here it is in action being held up by the parachord tie offs:
A shot from the rear with the front of the platform raised:
My ladies testing it out :smiley_drive:
I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out! It's super simple, but does the job. I am working on a way to fix it to the floor. I haven't tackled that part just yet.
screwball48
Explorer
Good job with the platform.
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